Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

djtestudo · 04-17-2005, 05:00 PM

...and I'm doubley happy because of it

Quote:

Steinbrenner Angry As Yanks Fall to 4-8

By DAVID GINSBURG, AP Sports Writer

BALTIMORE - George Steinbrenner is tired of waiting for his New York Yankees to get going. Now he's angry. Miguel Tejada hit his eighth career grand slam, and the Baltimore Orioles roughed up Kevin Brown and completed a three-game sweep of New York with an 8-4 victory Sunday. The last-place Yankees (4-8) have dropped four straight and eight of 10 overall.

"Enough is enough. I am bitterly disappointed as I'm sure all Yankee fans are by the lack of performance by our team," Steinbrenner said in a statement issued immediately after the game.

"It is unbelievable to me that the highest-paid team in baseball would start the season in such a deep funk. They are not playing like true Yankees. They have the talent to win and they are not winning. I expect Joe Torre, his complete coaching staff and the team to turn this around."

Melvin Mora also homered for the Orioles, who took a 6-0 lead in the second inning and coasted to their sixth win in seven games. Baltimore improved to 5-1 against New York this season after their first sweep of the Yankees since 2000.

Tejada went 3-for-4 with two doubles, raising his batting average to .375 and his AL-leading RBI total to 18. He went 6-for-12 with eight RBIs in the series.

Daniel Cabrera (1-1) gave up three runs and eight hits in six innings, and streaking Brian Roberts went 2-for-4 with a walk and scored a run. Roberts, who has a hit in all 12 games this season, is batting .449.

Ruben Sierra and Alex Rodriguez homered for the Yankees, whose four-game losing streak matches their longest skid of 2004. New York, which went 14-5 against Baltimore a year ago, has been outscored by the Orioles 47-26 this season.

Making his 2005 debut after spending the first two weeks on the disabled list with a strained back, Brown (0-1) allowed six runs and nine hits in six innings. The right-hander walked two and struck out three.

Brown retired the first two batters in the first inning before Mora hit his second homer. Tejada then doubled and scored on a single by Sammy Sosa, who went to third on a double by Rafael Palmeiro before Brown retired Gibbons on a fly ball.

In the second, Roberts drew a two-out walk, David Newhan singled and Mora walked before Tejada hit an 0-1 pitch an estimated 420 feet over the center-field wall. It was his third homer, and extended his run of games with at least one RBI to nine — one short of the team record held by Reggie Jackson (1976) and Doug DeCinces ('78).

Derek Jeter singled in a run in the fifth for the Yankees and Sierra hit a two-run shot in the sixth to make it 6-3.

The Orioles scored twice in the seventh against the New York bullpen. Paul Quantrill left with the bases loaded before Palmeiro drew a walk to force in a run and Luis Matos hit an RBI single.

Rodriguez hit his second home run in the eighth off Steve Reed.

Notes:@ Palmeiro's 2,931st hit moved him past Rogers Hornsby into sole possession of 31st place on the career list. ... The Yankees optioned INF Andy Phillips to Triple-A Columbus to make room for Brown on the 25-man roster. ... New York returns home after a 1-5 road trip. The Yankees also lost two of three to the Red Sox at Fenway Park. ... All three games in the series were sellouts, and the cumulative attendance of 144,542 was the third-largest for a three-game series in the 14-year history of Camden Yards.

If you hear laughing out in the distance, it's me